Pusher for tin pots



' J. BREEN.

` PusHER FOR Tm Povs.

FILED Fris 16. 1922- FIEJI- /NVENTQR Patented Der.. Ztl, i922.

JOSEPH BREEN, (OF AMERXDGE, ENQSYLVNXA.

PUSHER. TEN FTS.

Application filed February 38, 1922'.

To all whom t may concern Be 1t known that l, Josnrrr Birnen, residH ing at Ambridge, in the county `of Beaver .and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the wUniuted States, have invented or discovered certain newl and useful Improvements in lushers for Tin Potaof which improve# ments the following is a specification.

My invention relates to pushers for tin pots. A pusher is an instrument which the attendant of a tin pot holds. He feeds the uncoated plates one by one into the bath of molten tin in the tin pot. He thrusts the plate downward and edgewise into the pot and then applying his pusher to the rear edge drives it deeper into the bath, submerging it entirely and forcing it forward through an upwardly curving path (defined by means Anot necessarw here to describe) into the bite of a pair of rolls which carry the sheets from the bath again.

The pusher ordinarily is a incre rod with a crotched end. ln the ordinary run of the mill a certain appreciable percentage of plates are found to be damaged by the pushing instrument. Sonie of this damage is due to careless use. of the instrument and is avoidable, some is not. l have designed a pusher in the use of which the element of damage, both the avoidable and the unavoidable part as well, is very considerably reduced. Furthermore the pusher of my invention is more easily made, as a matter of blacksmith work, than the less satisfactory pusher in general use.

The pusher of my invention is shown in side and rear elevation in the two figures of the accompanying` drawings;

Fig. l being the side elevation,

Fig. 2 being the rear elevation.

As with the usual pusher mine is made from a single length of rod l, pointed at the rear end for application of a handle.

rlhe forward -end is by the blacksmith first forged fiat with tongue-shaped tip, then the flattened end is shaped to the particular configuration best shown in TEig. 1. Vlhe features of this configuration may be noted in order from rear to forward end, thus,-- first, an arc-shaped length a, of some 600 extent, more or less, on a radius of an inch and a half, more or less; second, a sharp turn b; third, a second arc-shaped length c, approximating parallelism with length L but diverging slightly from a; fourth, a

Serial No. 536,887.

round bottomed turn Z 5 endngin. fifth. the tongue c. l

rlhe features improvement over the usual crotched bar are, first, vthe round-bottomed turn o?, adapted to engage the edgev of the plate. rlfhoughthe user may thrust r'forward with considerable force, in order to carry ythe foruf'ard edge of the plate into the bite between the rolls above referred to, still the plate cannot j am and becaught in the notch in the pusher. Second, in the downward thrust it is the portion c of the pusher which overlies the surface of the plate adjacent the edge. hs the plate advances along its upwardly curved path this surface c will bear to greater or less extent upon the surface of the plate. But as this occurs the surface of contact is by the curved shape of this portion of the pusher extended. ilfith the ordinary pusher the corresponding surface is flat, and the tip of the prong (particularly if the instrument be carelessly used) is agt to dent and mar the plate. rlhird, the folding of the body of the pusher upon itself, in the two slightly diverging lengths a, c, connected at Zi, gives to the instrument a springiness under strain of service which Ithe usual pusher does not possess. And in this springiness is further prevention, against marring of the plate. A fourth advantage has been noted: my instrument maybe more cheaply made than the usual pusher and when made is more surely free of defect.

Automatic feed is largely used, but automatic apparatus at best must be made to take care of the material chiefly produced. Material which in thickness is greater or less than the range for which the machine is adapted, or differing greatly in surface dimensions from what the machine is intended to deal with, must be pushed by hand, and hand pushing is by no means supplanted, even in plants equipped with mechanical pushers.

l claim as my invention:

l. Qd tin-pot pusher consisting of a single length of metal rod bent at its tip to form a plate-engaging notch, said notched tip being continuous with the body of the instrument through an intermediate resilienceaffording portion, substantially as described.

2. A tin-pot pusher consisting of a single length of metal rod formed at its tip to a plate-engaging notch, and adjacent said .ir-ot-fzrii fomue. to a convex piateopposng six'fziee, substantially as deseri'oef.

3. fain-pot pusher 'formed of a single length of *foci ioinied at its tip o a plateengaging noioh 5, said` notched tip 1oeing continuous with *she body of the instrument fn'ough an nefinedate portion bent upon itself info ai iesiiient fold: substantially as described.

L i tin-pot pusher formed from a single FLA-:geese length of rod attened and provided with tongue-shaped tipi, the attened portion being iis shaped to curved length a, bent beck upon itself in a uin b, continuing in a second Curved 1ienggjh c divei'ging slighty i'oni engh a, and teiininating in a roundbottoined noeh (Z, substantially as described.

n testimony whereof have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH BREEN. 

